How unions see themselves:



How they really are:

At one point in time unions were needed to curtail abuses in the work place. They have gotten greedy and created an environment that promotes complacency and rewards laziness, as shown in the OP's second photo and have all but brought down companies like GM, Chrysler, Boeing and have toppled companies like Hostess and Truland. Unions will eventually go the way of the dinosaur because they are unsustainable in todays "global economy". In short unions have eaten the golden goose so fuck em.

Nip

Unions still might be able to do some good, but unfortunately, their top leadership makes far too much money to have any real empathy for the workers. They currently have about as much credibility as the CEOs they supposedly fight.

Your Hostess example is definitely interesting. Hostess invited the Teamsters to look at the books, and the Teamsters were willing to work with them. I think it was the Bakers Union that refused and caused the company's demise.

I will admit to having a bias against unions (and especially compulsory union membership), and it isn't helped by dealing with the well-protected idiots that I see and experience every day on Metro. If I was a coal miner, I would definitely not want to work without a union, though.

The head of the AFL-CIO Dick Trunka finally got off his ass and read the Obamacare law. After years of none stop support for the Democrats and kissing Obamas ass. He had the balls to ask Obama for exemptions for all Union members! Obama just laughed and laughed! This is Union leadership at its worse. What a dumbass.

Gruntled Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unions still might be able to do some good, but
> unfortunately, their top leadership makes far too
> much money to have any real empathy for the
> workers. They currently have about as much
> credibility as the CEOs they supposedly fight.
>
> Your Hostess example is definitely interesting.
> Hostess invited the Teamsters to look at the
> books, and the Teamsters were willing to work with
> them. I think it was the Bakers Union that refused
> and caused the company's demise.
>
> I will admit to having a bias against unions (and
> especially compulsory union membership), and it
> isn't helped by dealing with the well-protected
> idiots that I see and experience every day on
> Metro. If I was a coal miner, I would definitely
> not want to work without a union, though.


"If I was a coal miner, I would definitely not want to work without a union, though."


Don't worry, the way Obama and the econazis are destroying the coal industry you wouldn't have a job much longer anyhow.

I recently heard an NPR program about Japanese management being brought in to correct the abusive work environment created by unions at a GM auto plant in California. The union workers would drink on the job, purposely damage cars and do as they pleased as they could almost never get fired. The product suffered to a point that ownership was for ed to bring in Japanese management and enter joint projects with them. If you get a chance you have to hear this program.

WAMU listener Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently heard an NPR program about Japanese
> management being brought in to correct the abusive
> work environment created by unions at a GM auto
> plant in California. The union workers would drink
> on the job, purposely damage cars and do as they
> pleased as they could almost never get fired. The
> product suffered to a point that ownership was for
> ed to bring in Japanese management and enter joint
> projects with them. If you get a chance you have
> to hear this program.






Yes, it was called NUMMI.



It's why you had the Pontiac Vibe which was a rebadged Toyota Matrix; GEO Prisms were rebadged Corollas, and Toyota even exported the Cavalier to Japan as the Toyota Cavalier.



Ford had a similar agreement with Mazda, and Chrysler was partnered with Mitsubishi. Remember the Eagle brand? They were just rebadged Mitsubishis.

I think this was about the Geo Metro/Toyota Corolla

The Geo Metro was a rebadged Suzuki Swift.

If you belong to a union, you are a total faggot

Yes it was the bakers union that wouldn't compromise and Hostess closed it's doors long enough to move to a non-union work force.

It sucks American Business has to turn to Japanese management to whip a shop into productivity. Another union failure to it's members and speaks to the viability of the management at GM. While I understand the logic they outsourced their management. What a bunch of losers. It was union contracts and retirement benefits that almost put GM under. Union fucktards. Remember when Regan broke the Air Traffic Controllers union?n Aah Ronnie he had balls. Unions are communist.

I agree with the poster that said he would not mine coal with out a union. Me either. Fuck I wouldn't go in a coal mine if I did belong to the union.

Nip

The Hostess situation:

"The company has struggled with workers’ issues since it filed. In December, the acting CEO imposed an 8 percent pay cut across the board for all Hostess employees, yet his own $1.5 million yearly salary was exempt. It also asked for approval from a bankruptcy judge shortly after it filed to allow it to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives. And even though the company blamed unions for its downfall, it tripled its CEO’s pay before the bankruptcy filing and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.

Other companies have demanded concessions from unionized workers as executives have enjoyed raises: Construction giant Caterpillar gave its CEO a 60 percent pay raise to $17 million as it forced a pay and pension freeze on workers. Other companies have compensated executives in times of bankruptcy or financial instability. Failed financial firm MF Global awarded CEO Jon Corzine $8 million after filing, while Vikram Pandit got $6.7 million after he resigned as CEO of Citigroup even though he oversaw an 88 percent profit loss in his final quarter."

Not to mention, America tries to eat healthier and the company couldn't adapt.

Also:
"Twinkies are an American Icon. Thoughts on who to blame for Twinkie's demise were sharply divided along political lines. Conservatives were quick to blame worker unions. All unions in general and in particular, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union, that dared to go on strike against Hostess. How could the workers be so greedy as to strike over something as silly as wages? Why does it matter what you get paid as long as you have a job?

One 14-year veteran of the company describes the $150 million annual givebacks the union agreed to: “In 2005, before concessions I made $48,000, last year I made $34,000.” Pensions and healthcare were cut as well, with labor’s total loss equaling $110 million annually.

Faced with no pension and yet another pay cut, the workers went on strike. Rather than make good on their promises, The CEOs of Twinkies sacked and looted the company and closed the historic doors of Hostess and selling off the company bit by bit, brand by brand to the highest bidder. But not before first going to court to make sure they wouldn't have to pay their workers back the pension money.

Ironically, if you borrow money to pay for your education, you can’t get rid of that debt through bankruptcy – one of the “reforms” of the bankruptcy law during the Bush era. But if you’re a CEO or a buyout bankster and you borrow money from your employees’ trust fund to be able to cover your own paycheck and million-dollar bonuses, and then take your company into bankruptcy, neither you nor the company have to pay those employees back even a single penny. Part of their pension is picked up by federally-run pension insurance, and the rest is just lost."